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The Star
A heart-felt'thanks.............Page
Students-of theimonth .....Page 6
Ditch the dip ........................Page 7
‘ A new stylist ......................Page 9
St. John buSineSs ...........Page 10
February 1, 2021
Volume 134 w Number 14
Two Sections —»$1
Rolia, North Dakota 58367
Officials from Rolette County Public Health continued to vaCCinate
residents last week for COVID-19.‘Just last Thursday
alone a total of 306 doses were administered. Everyone who is vaccinated
waits for 15 minutes to see if there are any side
effects and then schedules their appointment for a required second dose.
Additional clinics are scheduled in the upcom-
ing weeks.
Belcourt teen earns state-wide honoricrwriting
By Jason Nordmark
, Of The Star
More than'a few people think
Julian Wallette’s work is out of
this world.
Wallette, a senior at Turtle
Mountain Community High
School in Belcourt, was the recip-
ient of a Gold Key award in the
category of science fiction/fantasy
from the Red River Valley Writing
Project at North Dakota State Uni-
versity and Plains Art Museum.
As a result, Wallette’s work
was forwarded to New York City
for national judging. In addition,
his writing will be on display at
the Plains Art Museum’s Starion
Gallery from February 2 through
March 15.
Wallette said his love of sci-
ence fiction and fantasy stories”
goes back to his Childhood. He
said the subject allows for a wide
Variety of story lines.
“In sci-fiction/fantasy, you can
have romance, action, comedy,
politics, engineering, philosophy,
‘ Julian Wallette
all with dragons, magic, time
travel, mechanical robots, or
maybe some big nose, beady eyed,
small, big—headed goblin from the
region of darkness. Why not?”
Wallette said. “The world is
yours.”
Wallette said reading sci—fi
books and watching movies in the
Minitseiirrérranrrartttittt’?'; ’
‘ fifii'navg r95;
.mance, action, comedy? 'engi?
neering, philosophy, all with dragons,
magic, time traVel, mechanical robots; or
maybe some big nose,fbeady.-eyed, small,
big-headed goblin from the region ,7 of
darkness. Why not? The world is yours.”
Julian Wallette, winner of the Gold Key award
genre encouraged him to try writ-
ing his own stories. The decision
to share them was his way of of-
fering others a similar form of en-
joyment.
“I wanted to give people that
same escape I had when reading
books,” Wallette said.
Getting started wasn’t easy,
however, and Wallette said it took
some experimenting with graphic
novels, writing and drawing his
ideas. He said that became “too
time consuming” although he re-
mains committed to the artistic
side.
“I still try to sketch because I
believe that drawing and writing
in terms of storytelling intertwine
in some ways,” Wallette said.
The project which won Wal-
lette the Gold Key award is called
“Alterfia.” According to the au-
thor', it’s about a man who has
been through a lot of hardships
Award Winner
(Continued on Page 8)
Excavating business inRoIIa changes hands
By Jason Nordmark
Of The Star
After four decades of excavating, Brian
Gattke has just two years left and he’s happy
about that.
Gattke’s large shop on the east end of town
is full of equipment except for some room on
one side where offices are being built. All of it,
along with the trucks and tra’ctors outside were
sold on December 31, 2020, to Ryan Skoog in
a joint venture with Mikkelson Aggregates of
Bottineau.
“I started all this when I was 23 years old,”
Gattke said. He went into business with his fa-
ther—in-law, Orville Sutton, “a real character,”
according to Brian.
In 1990, Gattke bought out Sutton and five
years later he moved all his equipment to a
farm outside of Rolla. In 2015, the business
moved to its current spot with the thought that
. ' someday it would improve the chance to even-
tually sell it. .
more business.
“I got a lot of work from the city, digging
0 water lines and things like that,” Gattke
1. “I also got more work from farmers, who
, ’t know I did this for a living, too. It’s been
' good run?”
asiness
' “Turned out it worked,” Gattke said. He
“ added that the move into town resulted in a lot
Vse of all the work, Gattke said not get—,
i it accomplished served as a sort of
I get done with everything each
1. “There Were always one or two
.v,...,,... 55,..sq.i,r,,.,wuh-,.-g,.,u . r5 ». ,. , ~..-.. :
Brian Gattke recently sold his excavating business after 40 years of work.
i ’
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By John Rosinski
Of The Star
The Rolette County
Sheriff’s Department re-
sponded to hundreds of
calls for service last year
with offenses ranging from
breaking and entering to
prostitution.
The department never
received fewer than 178
calls in a month and topped
out with 722 calls over a
31-day stretch in August,
which translates into more
than 23 calls per day.
The total offenses, as re—
ported by the sheriff’s de-
partment, show consistent ‘
requests for law enforce—
ment around the county.
Behind all the numbers are
also personal stories in-
volving families dealing
with losing thousands and
thousands of dollars worth
of personal property.
tober,
erators .
I
2;
CHEVROLET
as Theel Motors.
One such instance in-
volved Shanon and Deb
MetCalfe. The Metcalfe’s
live on a farm north of
Dunseith. They have two
yards that are separated by
about 50 feet. In early Oc-
criminals
through a chain, drove into
their yard, broke into their
shop and stole over $8,000
worth of property. Some of
the stolen items included
Welders, torchers and gen-
Making matters even
more concernng was the
brazenness of the perpetra-
tors. Deb said they were
Crlme calling
County law enforcement receives
more than 5,000 requests for service
Rolette County Sheriff Nathan
Gustafs'cm has cited increased
drug 'useas the biggest reason
for the uptick in theft.
home at the time and esti—
mated it took place around
four in the morning.
“They drove in and used
their vehicles,” Deb said.
“We’ve had a few issues
like stolen gas or diesel in
the past but never any
property.”
Deb surmised the crim-
inals were spooked by their
dog because they left some
items, including a flash—
light and cigarettes behind.
Deb added they returned
the next night but did not
cut
Crime
(Continued on Page 10)
MOTOR (CO.
301ch
The new nameplate Munro Motor-company of Rolla, formerly known
Anchor business brings
By Jason Nordmark
Of The Star
Changing the name of an anchor busi-
ness in the community isn’t something
Josh Munro took lightly.
In the end, however, it made sense.
“We wanted to make sure the commu-
nity knows who’s going to be here for the
next generation,” Munro said. “‘People
need to know that myself and my wife are
fully committed to the area.”
In 2018, Josh and Jenee Munro pur-
chased Theel Motors, four years after re—
turning to Rolla and partnering with
Lowell and Loie Tupa.
At the beginning of this year, Josh and
Jenee decided to change the name of the
dealership to Munro Motor Company, the
original name of the dealership founded by
Josh’s great—grandfather John Munro in
1909.
Josh said the switchover will not only
eliminate confusion, but also pairs well
with history.
“I just makes sense,” Josh said.
“There’s a rich history here and the fact
that the new name echoes the one first cho-
sen by my great-grandfather just seals the
deal.”
In Rolette County’s history, the Munro
name looms large in more than just cars.
John Munro arrived in Rolla in 1888,
the year the city was founded, and became
a pioneer businessman involved in every-
thing from providing electricity to selling
cars. Included in the man’s endeavors were
the original movie theater, a farm imple-
ment company and an oil company. He
was also a part owner of the city’s first-
ever hardware store founded in 1888.
John’s son and Josh’s grandfather, Al-
bert, managed the theater, oil company and '
implement business.
Josh’s uncles, WJ. and Charlie Munro,
managed the Munro Motor Company
which became one of the first Chevrolet
dealerships in North Dakota. It marked the
Name Change
(Continued on Page 2)
v A »._, mu» “m, . m«r.-....w.v. we“... r, .. A.
baCk historic name to area
Above: Jenee and Josh Munro,
owners of Munro Motor Company,
formerly Theel Motors.
Below: Loie and Lowell Tupa
have been a part of Theel Motors
for the past 41 years.
